Rail-joint.



I. KENNEDY.

RRRR JOINT.l

l APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, |913. Ll @@695@ Patented Apn 13, 1915.

v-I'U'IZIIAbl KENNEDY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA. i

nain-JOINT.

Specification of Letters iatent.-

' Patented-Apr. 13, 1915.

`.Application'illed September 22, 1913. 'Serial No. 790,971.

exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part yof this specification, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of a rail joint embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, the plane of section being at the joint bolts.

My invention has relation tov rail joints and is designed to provide a railjoint having joint bolts of novel character.

VHeretofore the best practice in rail joint construction'has 'been to form the unthreaded portions of the jointv bolts of a diameter somewhat less than the diameter of the threaded portion, inorder that whatever stretching of the bolts occurs in service will occur in this unthreaded portion rather than in the threaded portion. By this construction of the bolts, any looseness due to stretching of the bolts can be readily taken` up by tightening the nuts, the thread on the bolts being uninjured .by the stretching. This construction, however, has given rise to the following diiliculty. While the bolt holes in the webs'of the rails are commonly made considerably larger than the maximum diameter of the bolts, it frequently happens that the bolts are either not initially centered in these openings, or if initially centered, they get out of center by the shifting of the rails and joint plates relatively to each other. This produces a condition in which the sides of the bolts may be in close contact with one side of the bolt holes in the web of the rail, and the bolts being bound by the joint plates, can not be removed without-injury to the threads. My invention is designed to overcome this diiliculty by providing a bolt in which the unthreaded portion is at least of as great an external diameter las the external diameter of its threaded portion; and to provide for stretching of this threaded portion by Weakening the unthreaded portion in a manner other than reduction of its external diameter. I thereby make the unthreaded portion guardthe threads in removing the bolts under conditions such as above stated, while KEN NEDY., a

at the `sanie time I largely confine the stretchlng to the unthreaded portion. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawing, l

in which I have illustrated one embodiment of my mventlon, the numeral .2 .designates the .track rails, 3 the fish lates vor ,joint members, and 4 the track loov ts. In accordance with my invention, I make the intermediate portions 5 of these bolts of an ex ternal diameter at `least as, great .as .the external vdlameter of the threaded portion 6 of the bolts. The effective diameter of this portion of the'bolts is, however, reduced by the. internal longitudinal cavity V7. This cavlty reduces the metal of this orton of the bolts to a sufficient extent so t at `it will stretch 1n preference to the solid threaded portlon o j the same externall diameter. This intermediate portion having at least as great an external diameter asV the external diameter of the threads, the bolts can be readily removed under various conditions v of the joint without injury to the threads.

My mvention is applicable to various forms of rail joints and the bolts may, of course, vary specically from the form which I have shown, so long as they contain theessential features hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. In a rail joint, the combination with a said bolts having an intermediate unthreaded portion of an external diameter at least as great as the external diameter of its threaded end portion, said intermediate portion being weakened relatively to the threaded end portion to cause the major art of -the stretching of the bolt to occur 1n said j ss I rail and joint members, of trackbolts extending through the rail and the joint members,

its threaded end portion, said intermediate portion being internally weakened relatively to. the threaded end portion to cause the major part of the stretching of the bolt to occur in said intermediate portion, substantially as described.

3. In a rail joint, the combination with a rail and joint members, of track bolts extending through `the raileand the jointmenibers, said bolts having'fan intermediate unf] threaded vportion of an external diameter at least as great as'the external diameter of itsithreaded end portion, said"intermediat'e portion being internally weakened by the removal of a portion ofthe metal from'the interior thereof relatively to lthe threaded end. t

portion' said weakened portion terminating short of the threaded portion of.thebolt,w

substantially as described.

v 4. A rail jointhavmg a J threaded intermediate portion, the intermediate portion being of. anexternal diameter substantially as great as the maximum diameter of the threaded end portion, but' havointv bolt formed with a threaded 'end portion and an un ing a portion of the metal removed from the interior thereof,with its threaded portion solidl substantially as described.`

x 5. A joint bolt, having a head at one end -and* an-externally threaded portion at the JULIAN KENNEDY.

4Witnesses:

` A. F. Tmanfrrs,

` GEORGE H. PARMELEE. 

